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The Chairman of Stormberg Power Limited, a leading provider of renewable energy across West-Africa, Otunba Babatunde Morakinyo, has stated that renewable energy is key to the development of the Northeast region of Nigeria.
Morakinyo stated this in view of the fact that the Northern region of Nigeria is currently in need of development owing to the high rate of poverty in the region occasioned by decade-long insecurity, which has negatively affected the economy of the region. He believes that the abundance of solar energy could be harnessed to drive a critical rehabilitation and growth process in the troubled region.
A recent report by the
World Bank titled ‘Advancing Social Protection in a Dynamic Nigeria’ has estimated that 87 per cent of poor Nigerians live in the Northern part of the country. According to the World Bank, “Poverty in the northern regions of the country has been increasing especially in the north-west zone,”adding, “Almost half of all poor lived in the north-west and the north accounts
for 87 per cent of all poor in the country in 2016.”
The import of this data is that Nigeria as a country has a long way to go in achieving sustainable development. It should be taken into cognizance that the North is the larger of the two regions in the
country and without fixing the North, it will be difficult to fix Nigeria.
However, Morakinyo, Chairman of Stormberg Power, believes that poverty in the North can be eradicated by harnessing the huge potentials presented by the abundance of solar energy in the region. Morakinyo maintained that while the security agencies battles insurgency, economic development must go on at the same time in a bid to engage citizens productively.
Morakinyo said: “As a professional in the renewable energy sector, the North is well-positioned to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development through investment in renewable energy.
“Stormberg Power Limited has executed several landmark projects which have improved the quality of lives of the beneficiary .
“Currently, we are building a 100 per cent off-grid power infrastructure for the soon to be completed Zamfara Airport which is the first in the country and it’s estimated to create 250 jobs for unemployed youth in the state.”
This, among our other initiatives across various North-eastern states, the Stormberg chairman affirmed, will facilitate the ongoing rehabilitation of displaced people affected by Boko Haram
conflict.
